Would you share your deepest anxiety with Alexa? Or maybe ask Siri for some emotional support after a particularly stressful day? We are increasingly turning to chatbots on smart speakers or websites and apps to answer questions. And as these systems, powered by artificial intelligence (AI) software, become ever more sophisticated, they are starting to provide pretty decent, detailed answers. But will such chatbots ever be human-like enough to become effective therapists?

He adds that while Headspace does use some AI, it does it "highly selectively", and while maintaining "a depth of human involvement". The firm does not use AI to chat to users, instead Mr Glass says it only utilises it for things like providing users with personalised content recommendations, or assisting human care providers to write their notes.